Friday, September 21, 2007

Whenever I go to New York, usually about 3 times a year, I inevitably find it depressing to leave. There is no other city that even approaches New York's (and New Yorkers') energy, style, and pure urban sense of joie de vivre. Also, when I go to New York it is to visit people who I care lot about, and whom I do not see nearly often enough. A few nights of catching up is never enough.

So I boarded the Amtrak Northeast Regional heading towards Baltimore, ate my last New York Bagel and tried to ignore the moisture welling up in my eyes. I read a copy of Paste Magazine and thought that I would listen to The Arcade Fire to cheer myself up....

Once in Baltimore, with a few hours to spare before dinner and Yom Kippur services, I drove to pick up a few things from the pharmacy and listened to a bit of the new Animal Collective album Strawberry Jam on the way there. A fitting choice as the band shares my suburban Baltimore upbringing. The first jam, Peacebone, with its arppegiating, repetitive melody, was bouncy, and just a little grating. Track 2 was better. By the third song, which starts out all rock and then steadies itself into a more mellow house music type of groove, I was really enjoying the record. AC's latest effort is not striking me as an immediate favorite like 'Feels,' but it does not come across as a tough listen in the way that 'Here Comes the Indian' was.